Wireless local area network (LAN) systems typified by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards have recently been replacing wired networks due to advantages such as a high level of flexibility with devices. These wireless LAN systems operate, for example, in infrastructure mode in which multiple wireless communication devices communicate through access points.
Conversely, Wi-Fi Direct, which was developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance, supports a direct communication mode in which multiple wireless communication devices connect directly and groups are formed. According to this direct communication mode, communication starts after a connection is established between wireless communication devices by device discovery and formation. Device discovery is processing to discover surrounding wireless communication devices, and formation includes processing to determine which wireless communication device becomes the group owner, authentication processing (provisioning), and similar.
There are also wireless communication devices capable of performing communication by switching between the aforementioned infrastructure mode and direct communication mode. In addition, communication within a proximity closer than that of wireless communication such as with wireless LAN is widely used. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a communication device equipped with both a near-field communication unit for performing near-field communication and a wireless communication unit for performing wireless communication.